Website Hosting World

Whether you are putting a business online or just want to register your own name choosing an Internet domain name can be a bit of a hassle. Chances are the great name you choose has already been snapped up by a cyber squatter. You can either pay a ransom to get the name or you can get creative with choosing a domain name. Here are a few tips for choosing a domain name.

The first thing you need to do is research domain companies. Just because a company advertises during the super bowl doesn’t mean that they will have the best price or support for your needs. Shop around to find the best domain name deal.

The next thing to look at is the domain hosting. Will you be running your own servers or do you want a provider to host your site. There are all-inclusive providers who will do both. They’re reliable but the price will be a little bit higher than just registering a name.

Once you’ve gone through all the mental gymnastics to find the name that works be sure to register it on multiple domains. You’ll want to buy the traditional dot com as well as dot net and any other dot registries that might fit your business. By snapping up these alternate domains you can prevent someone from purchasing the same name with a different dot ending. You want to keep your customers on your page.

Another way to prevent someone from being directed to a page other than yours is to go ahead and purchase any sites that might closely mirror yours such as common misspellings.

By being a little bit creative and doing your homework you’ll be successful in choosing a domain name that will work for you or your business.

There are all sorts of different methods available to put your data out to the web.

You can spend a ton of money building servers and integrated software and keep everything locally controlled, or you can farm that work out. Cloud hosting let’s you farm out the work and save money, but what is cloud hosting?

Cloud hosting is basically just moving your data from a central system to a network solution. This has quite a few benefits.

The major benefit is cost. By cloud hosting you’ll be able to treat your server usage like a power bill. You just pay for what you use. Think about the difference in cost here. If you had to generate your own power you’d need a generator that costs thousands of dollars to run your business. Instead you pay the power company a couple hundred dollars based on the amount you use. Cloud hosting works the same way. By going with cloud hosting you avoid the expense of all the hardware.

The only real downside to cloud hosting is a business runs the risk of being captured by the server company. This means that if a business develops all its software for use on a particular cloud host it might not be easily moved to another company.

The benefits of cloud hosting outweigh the negative.  Not only does cloud hosting allow for a reduction in hardware costs but it’s also a decentralized system. A decentralized system means users can log on and grab information from anywhere. They aren’t tied into a local intranet. This does raise a security concern but one that’s easily dealt with available encryption software.

So what is cloud hosting? It boils down to just being a cheaper way to get your business online. You limit fixed costs, and have the ability to log on from anywhere. The benefits outweigh any negatives as a business solution.

If you are looking into web hosting solutions, you may have heard that there are Linux and Windows based web-hosting options out there. So what does that mean and what’s the difference? Well, we’re going to take a quick look.

Windows

Microsoft created the Windows based server platform. They also own it which means you need to pay them (in one way or another) to use it if you are building a server.

Linux

The Linux based server platform is open source and in most cases is free to use when you are building a server. With this said, you will still have to purchase a hosting package to use on a Linux system and in many cases there is little to no difference in the price of Linux or Widows.

Do You Need One Or The Other?

One question many people have is if they run a Windows machine, whether they need to have a Windows server host. That is not necessary. Either type of hosting platform will work just fine.

Why Does it Matter Which One You Choose?

When choosing a server platform, the type of things you should be thinking of is what you will need to use that server for. Are you going to be running a lot of PHP files? POP3? Or are you going to want to use things like FrontPage to publish websites or have Windows Streaming Media. While Linux will work just fine for the first options, once you want to be able to use Windows based applications, the Windows based platform will be an easier and more convenient choice.

What is Reseller Web Hosting?

The simplest definition is that you buy a ‘reseller hosting plan’ or a dedicated server. You then start your own company, selling web hosting to other people.

That sounds simple…isn’t it more complicated?

Reseller web hosting refers to selling any kind of web hosting. However, it usually refers to an individual person or small hosting company that buys a dedicated server or a ‘small reseller web hosting plan’. Then that person or business sets up a hosting company so that they can sell hosting to other people. It doesn’t matter if you are a sole business person with one dedicated server or a very large company with thousands of servers – the principle is the same.

Why should I start reseller web hosting?

If you already have a have a website with traffic, or better still, a web design business, then you also have a ready-made client base who need hosting for the websites that you are building for them. It makes perfect sense to encourage them to buy that hosting from you instead of another company. This allows you to offer a complete package to people, which is very attractive, especially to people who really are not internet savvy. There are also many other potential customers who just don’t’ have the time to hunt for a web builder as well as a host – so make it easy for them! Hosting their site also keeps the communication channels open so that if they wish to build other sites, you are there – ready and willing! It’s also a good idea for anyone who wants to start their own business but doesn’t have much start-up capital.

Other good reasons…

• It brings in a steady income

• There is a huge market because so many people want their own website • If you give it some thought, you can find a niche market that has little competition

• This means that even if you’re a sole trader or a small company, you can compete with bigger companies.

So how could I make money as a Reseller Host?

Here is an example-

Step One: 
Buy a reseller web hosting package that has 1,000 MB of disk space and 1,000 MB of bandwidth. Let’s say that this package costs you $15.00 each month.

Step Two:
Break this package down into 10 separate accounts, each with 100 MB of disk space and 100MB of bandwidth.

Step Three:
Sell these ten packages to your customers. If you sell each one for a ‘rental’ of $10.00 per month, you would be bringing in $100.00 each month and your outlay would be $15.00 so you would have a monthly profit of $85.00. Not bad, eh?

Even large, well known web hosting companies resell hosting. They bulk buy space or rent servers from companies bigger than themselves and then sell the hosting to you. Even multi million dollar companies can own or rent servers for reselling.

But how can I compete with million dollar companies?

You can’t – on their terms – because they spent a fortune in advertising, focus on a large community and have enough of a cash flow to wait to recoup that outlay. If you’re a one man band or a small company, you need to find a way to make your hosting different from all of the other web hosting companies.

Small is beautiful

The secret is to find a niche market of people who want websites that are specific to their needs. Let’s say you decide that you’ll provide hosting specifically for people researching their family trees. Visit a few genealogy forums and see what’s already available and what these folk offer. Is there anything that people are asking for on the forums, that isn’t already available? Start making a list of these things so that you can supply them.

Posting on related forums is a great way of advertising and is obviously the right place as it’s read by your target market – but do be careful as many forums have rules about spammers and cold sellers.

However, it only takes a few people to start signing up to your hosting and then word will spread.

Support tips

• Make life easy on yourself. Try to go for a niche market where the clients won’t be technical experts. That way, they are unlikely to install lots of complicated scripts onto their site that they may want you to help them with.

• The easiest clients are the ones that upload something and then it just sits there. This obviously includes genealogists (although they will update) but also think about graphics hosting along the lines of photo bucket etc.

• Or, you could choose a type of shopping cart and offer sites that have that feature already installed for your customers. In reseller web hosting, it’s better to be a ‘master of one trade’ than a ‘jack of all’.

• If you are a small concern, your reputation is very valuable and can make or break you, so look after it well. When you are small, it’s easier to offer personalized, strong customer service which will pay dividends. Praise is good advertising!

I can’t think of any niche markets…

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Websites offering ready-made blogging facilities for people in your local area

• Sites geared up for specific games

• Websites for families or family members such as grandparents or teens

• Image hosting such as for eBay or just for picture collections
• If none of the above appeals, think of something that you are very passionate about…duck keeping, collecting autographs, organizing, crafts…

Once you have a shortlist, do an internet search to see what’s already available. If the market is swamped, move on. This is about being different and standing out from the crowd.

Reseller Web hosting if you have a dedicated server

Some people already have their own server – often acquired to play online games with their friends. If this is you, then you are in an ideal position to sell web hosting. Or, you could do it the other way around and sell web hosting and use that income to buy the server.

Either way, it will bring in an income – and you get your own server for your own use too.

Being a reseller web host is a good way to bring in a regular income. Make sure that what you offer is easy to maintain and as unique as possible – but be open to customer suggestions and offer great customer service…and you could be onto a winner.

There are a lot of companies out there offering reseller packages so spend a long time doing your homework for the best deal before you start.

Good luck!